Quenched
by simplysimpre
Summary: There has been a worldwide drought that has killed millions. Nico and Bianca are forced to find asylum in one of the many city states that popped up when governments began to fail. Instead, they find a world they did not know exists, the reason behind the drought, and a certain boy who might be able to save them all. Or just save Nico, that's cool too.
1. Chapter 1

The day the aquifers dried out, half the town left. The day after, only the desperate remained.

The days of a glittering Las Vegas were long gone. Once the Colorado river began to dry out, it got too expensive to transport water to the city. Afterall, they were in a desert. As the hotels and casinos went out of business, the people went with them. With the cost of water and the lack of rain, they couldn't afford to stay there.

At the beginning, they began to depend on groundwater. There wasn't much of it, but it was supposed to last them a good few months, at least until it rained again but it never did.

Nico sat in the back of the van as Bianca filled the tank with gas. Vegas was becoming unbearably hot and they needed to leave. There was nothing there anymore other than empty buildings that have been raided a few times too many. They had about twenty gallons of water on them and a few cases of gold coins. Nobody wanted paper money anymore. It was a bit of a joke now, considering that large forests became an obsolete thing and trees were too expensive a luxury to grow. Luckily for them, Bianca traded cash for gold early on in the drought. People called them drachmas in the city states.

It seemed that the only people who were doing okay were in these cities. In the US, they were all by the coasts or the Great Lakes, although those were in constant war. Fresh water sources were being drained too quickly and with the lack of rain to replenish them, they became a rarity. Most people depended on the ocean water instead. Desalinization and the machines to do it were costly, but in the time of drought, freshwater was the most valuable thing there was. It was a slow process that creating a lot of waste, but what choice did they have? They ruined the Earth already.

None of it made sense to him, how there was absolutely no rainfall for over a year. Even scientists were puzzled by the discovery, considering the atmospheric temperature didn't even rise from the year before. The results, however, were devastating. Developing countries were hit the hardest, within a few months of the start of the drought, at least a billion were dead. That number climbed at an alarming rate once aquifers and wells dried out. At that point, the city states began to form. Large governments were failing because they were unable to provide their citizens adequate water supplies. Citizens saw it as politicians trying to hoard the water and broke away from them. The city states ranged in size, but there was one thing all of them shared: water and the need to protect it. Most city states had farms and a constant supply of food but there was just enough. Getting turned away wasn't unheard of.

Bianca had heard from a friend that those on the west coast were getting crowded so they decided to head the opposite way.

"Ready to go Nico?" Bianca hopped into the driver's seat and strapped down a small barrel of oil on the seat besides her.

She had only begun driving once most of the people left Vegas. Their blue van was found at the side of a freeway with the keys in and the motor still running. Nico wasn't sure what to make of her driving, but considering that the roads were probably empty of traffic, it was good enough.

"Westover…"

"Maine. Just on the other side of America. It's supposed to be colder there and I heard their aquifers are still quite full," Bianca replied as she tossed Nico her phone, "lead the way."

As they drove, Nico watched them leave Vegas behind. They were only there two months before the drought began. Their mother had just passed away and they were sent here while the Child Protective Services tried looking or their father. He wasn't sure what happened to those people. They probably assumed that they had left Vegas with the first wave of people. It wasn't until three months into the drought that the United States became nothing more than a city state itself. Considering that neither of them were aspiring politicians or had any combat skill, D.C. didn't seem to be the place for them.

It was rather dull, looking out the window. The sky was a bright blue, the way it always was now. Other than that, everything was some shade of brown. They were already in a desert and without rain, the fragile ecosystem just fell apart. Once in awhile, they would pass by an abandoned car graying on the side of the road. At least he hoped that they were abandoned. Heat stroke was a bit too common of an occurrence now, with so few people having the luxury of carrying water around.

He had always known that the population was a mere fraction of what it was before but it didn't hit him until they had gotten out of Nevada. During the whole ride, he saw no one. There were many unkempt and raided houses, but not a single person. Anyone who was alive was long gone. Those that remained were probably rotting somewhere or escaping like they were.

"It's named after a military school by the ocean."

"Hmm?"

Bianca pointed at the phone in his hands, "Westover. It's the name of the school where they have their machines. Almost all of the water for the city state is made there. The aquifers are only used for agriculture."

"They're still accepting?"

"Yup. At least as far as I know. I have a friend there that said they are."

It reassured him, but not enough. Somehow, the idea terrified him, that they were going to be turned away at the gates. All he could think about when he thought about Maine was blueberries. He had done a project years ago on the state. All he could remember was that wild blueberries were the state fruit. Yes, they were going to turn Bianca and him away from their stupid blueberry farms. If there was one thing he liked about Vegas, it was that nobody cared about them. They were able to come and go as they pleased. When they decided to move from their little apartment to the lobby of the Lotus hotel, the people who remained hardly blinked an eye. It was almost like a community, except it wasn't. They all needed to survive and they didn't take from anyone still living there. It was nice.

Nico rested his head on a Louis Vuitton suitcase that Bianca used to hold her stuff. She had claimed that she got it for the quality, but from how she treated the bag, he knew she thought it was pretty. Everything had been packed since the first day the aquifers dried out. It was going to be a long ride.

It took about three days to get to Maine. He couldn't help but feel as if they had not moved at all, at the state border, it was still brown and barren. He wasn't sure what he expected, it was a worldwide drought after all, but he never expected that Maine was going to look like the deserts of Nevada. Bianca got on the phone with one of her friends as she began to drive down streets. The houses and stores that they passed by were all empty. It didn't seem that there was anyone living there. They had passed by people as they drove, but those people didn't look as if they would have wanted to help them. They were all walking in the direction they were driving. Still, it was comforting, seeing people. He had heard news on the radio that there were thieves that attacked travelers, so they decided to keep a good distance away. They were low on water and it was better to not take any risks.

"Right up there," Bianca said, a bit of a smile in her voice.

Nico climbed out of the back to look out the front window. There was no gate. Instead, there were people, sitting outside and walking around. It was so normal but he hadn't seen such a thing for so long.

A copper skinned girl with dark hair was waving at the car. When Bianca saw her, she rolled down the windows and stopped the car.

"Zoë!" Bianca practically leapt out of the car to hug her friend.

Zoë stuck her head into the van and smiled even wider than before when she saw Nico, "I'm glad to see you two made it here safe! I'll bring you to the lady in charge. We've been waiting for you. Just park your car over at my place."

Zoë jumped into the back of the car and sat on one of their suitcases. Nico watched as the two girls talked animatedly about the city, not that there seemed to be too much in it. There were no stores open and not too many people. The houses were painted bright colors, as if to take the attention away from the lack of lawns. Zoë stopped them in front of a two storied Victorian styled house with a marble statue of a woman crying. An intricate black fence surrounded the house and a red stone path led to the door.

"You live here?" He had tried to hide it but the shock was evident in his voice.

She nodded and grabbed one of the suitcases, "Just bring your stuff inside. We can just walk to the town hall."

The inside of the house was even more elaborate than the front, it seemed to be completely furnished and a bit too homey for a single girl to live in.

Bianca was too stunned to speak and clumsily dropped her suitcases to touch a portrait on the wall.

"Five bedroom and six bathrooms. They all have running water."

Nico but down his bag in the living room. This house really did looked lived in. There were pictures on the mantle of the fireplace and throws draped over the couches. He couldn't understand how a thing like that could exist alongside the disaster.

"I'll show you guys your bedrooms," Zoë offered, taking a hold of Bianca's shoulder as if she was comforting her.

Bianca, taken out of her daze, shook her head, "I want to see if we can get registered first. I mean if you don't mind."

Nico knew that his sister was worried too, that the city wouldn't accept them.

"Not at all. Follow me." She led them out of the house and around to the back. In the fence, there was a gate that she opened for them. On the other side of the fence was an even larger building. From the domed top and greek styled architecture, he decided that this was probably the town hall. They circled around to the front of the building where they a giant fountain stood. Unlike the empty pools he was used to seeing, this one was running. Water trickled down the body of a woman dancing, giving the illusion that she was dancing in the rain.

It was as if the building was mocking the drought. Despite the lack of grass, white rose bushes lined the front of the building. A few willowy looking trees gave shade to the young women sitting beneath them. A few women, all dressed similarly to Zoë walked inside. They all wore flowing white blouses, some military like jacket, dark jeans, and heavy boots. Their hair was tied back in a braid and their faces were almost glowing.

As they entered the building, the women stared at them, although not menacingly. The interior of the building was decorated by shimmering cloth draped about the room and vases of white orchids. It felt breezy. The woman at the front desk nodded at Zoë but did not acknowledge either of them.

Zoë knocked on a large wood door, "My lady, my friends have arrived."

The double doors were pushed open and two women on either side of the door bowed deeply.

A rather young girl sat at the end of room on a few plush pillows. She couldn't have been older than thirteen. She had auburn hair, pulled back into a braid like the rest of the girls. Her face was pale and while he thought the other girls in the room seemed to have an uncanny glow to them, she glittered. Her eyes were the oddest shade of silver that he had ever seen and reflected the room effortlessly. She wore a white dress, made of a material similar to the cloth drapes along the walls.

Despite her young appearance, she had the expression of someone much older. There was the slightest smile on her face and she seemed completely relaxed.

"Introduce them to me, Zoë."

Zoë ushered them forward and took a short bow before addressing her, "This is Bianca, she was a friend of mine back when we went to school in Washington together. Her mother took care of me once. She passed away a while before the drought. She's very hardworking, I'm sure she'll make an amazing maiden, Artemis."

Artemis hummed, "Bianca, how old are you?"

Nico couldn't help but feel that he was being ignored.

"I'm eighteen." He could almost hear Bianca say "m'am". It was strange. He swore, Artemis was a child. She had to be, but with the way Zoë bowed to her and the way she spoke gave her an authoritative feel. Was she really in charge of this place?

"How do you mind working in the dirt?"

"I don't mind it at all. In D.C. my mother had a vegetable garden. I used to help her all the time."

"That's perfect." Artemis exchanged a look with Zoë who suddenly began to clap her hands together. "I am sure my maiden, Zoë Nightshade, knows the perfect job for you."

Bianca looked back at him with a wide smile before turning back to Artemis and bowing, "Thank you so much! What about Nico? He's sixteen. I'm sure he can help out."

Artemis turned to him and examined him a bit too much for comfort. He must have been quite the sight. Everything else in the room was white and even Bianca was coincidentally wearing a white shirt. Short and scrawny, he didn't look much. He wore a worn out black shirt and black jeans, that didn't really help in making him look any bigger. On top of that, he had his bulky aviator jacket, which was pretty dirty considering they weren't able to wash it. Suddenly, he also realized something else, he was probably the only male in the building, at least from what he saw so far.

"He can work the fields."

"Fields?" He asked. He was sure he didn't see any fields.

Artemis has already turned back to Zoë, "Show Bianca around, why don't you dear? I'll make sure someone is sent to pick up her brother tomorrow so he can work."

He wanted to say something, but Bianca looked happy. She had never been this happy, not since before their mother died. So he kept his mouth closed. Artemis still unsettled him, but she didn't seem dangerous, not in the least. When they thanked her, she nodded and picked up a harp from behind her pillows. The other women in the room led them out and closed the door behind them. As they left, he could hear the soft strums of the harp behind the door.

He didn't trust this place. He couldn't help but feel that he was being glared at. Something just wasn't right about it all. Still, for Bianca, he wouldn't complain.

"It'll be so much fun, Bianca!"

As they were leaving, Nico tried his best to look for another male. Maybe he wasn't looking clearly, but no. He was the only one. Zoë, realizing what Nico was looking at pointed at the building.

"This building is just for our lady, Artemis. Usually only her maidens are allowed to come in."

"Maidens?"

Zoë nodded excitedly, "Yup! You see all those girls? We're all her maidens. We vow to stay with her and protect her."

"Why?" Nothing about vowing to and protecting a child seemed to make sense to him.

"She is what keeps us so healthy around here. We're one of the few city states that have this much fresh game. They only come because of her. There isn't a lot of animals left but somehow, those that do find their way here. We have a forest you know."

He was searching for any sign on her face that it was a joke but found none. She was dead serious that Artemis was some type of game bait and that they had a forest. As far as he knew of, forest were completely destroyed if not rotting. He had heard of new religions forming that attempted to make reason for the drought or tried to make people saints and saviors but he thought they were only a joke. Now here he was, listening to Bianca's friend spout nonsense. Wasn't Zoë college educated? He was sure she was.

"I'll show you," she offered. Bianca, who was just absentmindedly admiring the fountain, grabbed Nico's arm.

"Please do!"

Nico sat in the field of blueberries. Even with a worldwide drought, Maine had blueberries. He could barely see the storage house at the end of the fields. There was a chain link fence surrounding the fields but from where he was, he couldn't see a thing. The girl overlooking him appeared to be roughly his age. She wore what all the other maidens wore except she had a bow under one arm and a quiver of arrows strung across her back. He had wanted to ask what it was for, but the way she looked at him told him he should keep quiet. He didn't mind it but he couldn't help but wonder if it was really necessary. The only people out in the fields were completely unarmed, unless plastic cartons counted as weapons.

"When you fill thirty of those, you can leave."

He sighed and went back to looking for more ripe berries. It wasn't difficult work but he didn't particularly like crouching around in the dirt and his fingers were beginning to get stained blue.

Yesterday, when Zoë first brought them to the forest, which conveniently overlooked the fields, he couldn't think. The trees were real. He remembered the way Bianca took a leaf in her hand, examining it. There was no way any city state had enough water to sustain a forests, not when they had so many people dependant on them. The trees were a mix of evergreens and aspens, all old growth trees. They looked strong, indestructible. Birds and squirrels crowded the canopy and upper branches, rustling them. Insects flew about the ground, landing on bushes and flowers. It didn't seem possible that it could exist. He had run his hands over the rough bark, trying to see if it they were plastic.

It felt as if they were in a different world, one without the drought. Birds were fucking singing. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that the breeze was moving the leaves. A small squirrel had come down to check on them. He hadn't seen one up close since before the drought. Not a lot of animals were able to survive without water. It got close enough to them to see that they were alive and then scurried back up the trees.

He had wondered how they afford to have such a luxury but decided not to ask. A forest in their type of world was worth more than gold. The feeling of standing in one was incomparable. Different grasses grew all around him, coloring the forest floor different colors of greens and yellows.

The forest wasn't huge, only covering one hill and a bit of the land around it, but after having seen only leafless trees on their way over and the willows in front of the town hall, it was breathtaking.

Zoë had tried to tell them about the watering system for the trees but he doubted that either of them heard anything.

"Don't crush the leaves."

Nico looked up at the new maiden. At least he thought she was one, her hair was too short to be tied into the braid all the others wore and she didn't wear the uniform the rest of them more. She wore all black. Everything about her was black, other than her pale skin and blue eyes. Still, she had the strange glow the rest of them had. He wasn't sure if he was going insane. No one glowed. It was probably some strange makeup.

He moved his foot, "Sorry."

"Phoebe, don't let the new kid mess up so soon."

Phoebe looked down at him and turned away, "I'll make sure not to let it happen again."

Unlike the other maiden, who pretty much refused to look at him, she didn't seem to dislike him at all. Which was rather nice, considering she too carried a bow. He couldn't really understand why people would use bows, but the arrows looked sharp.

"You're the new girl's brother?"

"Yeah."

She smiled and stuck out a hand, "Thalia, Thalia Grace. I'm one of Artemis's lieutenants."

He decided he liked her, "Nico, Nico Di Angelo."

Thalia stopped midway and dropped his hand. He didn't know what was happening. She took the bow out from under her arm and strung in one of her arrows. A second later, he heard something fall onto the ground behind him.

Two arrows pierced the animal, one in the eye and the other right above it. It looked like a giant hairy pig with horns. Maine was strange.

"Uhh… what's that?'

Thalia went over to the boar and poked it, it shivered, "Still alive. Strange. I'll take it to Artemis."

"What is it?" He asked again louder.

Phoebe and Thalia exchanged a look, "You can see it? It's just a boar."

"Boars look like that?" It was the size of a cow, there was no way a pig could be that size. The horns that stuck out were shiny and gray, as if they were made of metal. No, it couldn't be.

"Around here they look like that. Don't worry about it, Phoebe is more than capable of taking care of them."

Sure they did.

Phoebe had a proud look in her eyes and began to help tie up the hooves of the so-called boar. No way in hell was that a boar.

Thalia gave him a pat on the back before throwing the end of the rope over her shoulder, "Keep up the good work, buddy. I think we might just have some nice pork tonight."

He didn't like this place.

Zoë rested on the floor of the livingroom, surrounded in piles of decorative pillows and blankets. Thalia had come over and was in the kitchen making dinner: porkchops and blueberry sauce. Apparently, they were expecting guests.

Bianca was rambling about what they had done that day. They were renovating some of the houses so that excess grey water would be used for personal vegetable gardens instead of sewage water. He tried to pay attention, he really did but there was something stuck on his mind that he couldn't shake off.

There was just too much water. Even with all the things they were doing, it didn't make sense how this city state was able to live like this. Apparently, their only desalinization machines were in a school. As far as he could tell from what Zoe said, the city state consisted of about four cities. However, the only residents were maidens and their relatives. That is if they decided to take in their relatives. From the few young boys out in the fields, he doubted that many did. Couldn't they have taken more people in?

A knock sounded at the door, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Bianca, also a bit too comfortably wrapped in blankets, kicked him off the couch, "Go open the door, Nico."

As he opened the door, a few people bursted in, barely noticing him.

"Thalia! We're here! Your favorite people are here!"

Thalia ran out of the kitchen, completely ignoring the boy that had yelled and ran over to hug a rather tall blonde girl, "Annabeth! I've been waiting all day. I've missed you."

The boy who had been yelling pouted, which looked awfully strange considering he was about six feet tall, "What about me."

Two other men stood in the hallways. It was rather refreshing, having seen only maidens all day. Somehow, he still felt rather out of place. These people were just too…sunny?

Bianca didn't seem to be at all fazed by the guest. She just came over to introduce herself as if this was the most normal thing that could ever happen. It wasn't like her. She was usually much more cautious of people.

Thalia pushed them all to the dining room, where she presented them with fat hunks of pork chops covered in a purple sauce. The thought disturbed him, that he was eating that horned beast from before, but it tasted just like pork, maybe just a bit gamier.

Apparently, the name of the loud boy was Percy. Percy looked like the sea. It didn't make sense, but at the same time it did. His eyes were the color of sea water and he had this strange bronzey complexion to him. He was loud and expressive. Nico wasn't sure what to think.

Besides him sat Grover, who was either stoned or just a little off. Grover was rather short, with a goatee, dark hair, and a strange walk. He wore a large beanie that slumped in front of his head. He had refused the pork and seemed more than content eating a bowl of "lettuce". Nico wasn't exactly sure what type of vegetable was in there but it looked terribly similar to pine needles. He tried not to stare at him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. Every time their eyes would meet, Grover would smile, pine needles stuck to his teeth and all.

Leo Valdez sat opposite of them. He was considerably shorter than the rest, although Nico begrudgingly accepted that the boy was just a tiny bit taller than him. Despite not matching any one else on height or even on weight, he managed to be the loudest. Zoë, for one, seemed rather irritated by him but said nothing. The little hispanic boy had claimed that he was the ingenious one that made the machines that filtered the water. Zoë had scoffed but again said nothing.

Somehow, he felt that Annabeth was the only sane one. While Leo decided it was a great time to tell Bianca about how he had installed the machine at the request of the lady Artemis, Annabeth would merely correct his exaggerations. Unlike the boys, she ate slowly and was having a rather quiet conversation with Thalia.

"How's it here? One of the maiden's castrate you, yet?"

Zoë glared at Leo.

"What?" It was about all he could manage to say.

Leo nudged his arm, "These girls aren't too fond of us men. That's why all the guys here work in the fields and get all the nasty work."

He hadn't realized it before but it appeared to be true. The only ones picking berries in the field were men.

"It's also why none of the men are allowed to carry weapons," Leo added.

Zoë sighed, shaking her head, "Only the maidens of Artemis are allowed to bear arms."

"That is rather un-American of you, Zoë," Leo chided, shoveling another spoonful or pork into his mouth.

"There is no more America," Zoë retorted.

"You're no fun."

Apparently, from what he heard from Annabeth, the group had come to check on the machines. Percy and Leo seemed to be the ones that knew how they were run.

"How many machines are there?" Bianca asked, her eyes wide.

Leo nearly fell out of his seat trying to answer, "There's about half a dozen but they're huge. The whole school is used as a storage device for them. I made most of them myself! I also made the machine that dispenses the brine back into the ground. It separates the salt from the other pollutants so we can figure where to put them. We can bring you there if you want!"

"Ehem," Annabeth interrupted, "We would if we could but at the moment Artemis believes that it is too dangerous to bring people in there. Even her maidens aren't allowed into the school. The pipes already connect to homes for domestic use. Each household gets a certain amount they can use. The maidens just figure out how to distribute it."

Leo seemed rather dissapointed that he couldn't show them the machines but brightened up as Thalia brought out a pie.

Nico looked down at his plate, where he had barely made a dent in the pork chop. Realizing this, Leo pointed at the plate.

"Are you going to finish that?"

"You can have it."

Without any hesitation, Leo wolfed it down, managing to finish it before the pie touched the table.

"Blueberry pie! My favorite," Percy exclaimed, shaking Annabeth to get his point across. Nico almost felt bad for thinking about it, but there seemed to be something wrong with the boy.

Zoë frowned, "Of course it's blueberry. Blueberries are pretty much all we have here."

Percy effectively ignored her and turned to Nico, "You're going to love it here. They have blueberries all year round because of Artemis's magic."

"Magic," Nico repeated, completely confused.

Annabeth smacked the back of Percy's head, "He's being stupid, ignore him."

The rest of the group exchanged glances and all looked at Zoë who then nodded. He turned towards Bianca to see if she had noticed the interaction but she was too busy helping Thalia cut the pie to answer. Something wasn't right.

The rest of dinner went well enough. The pie was sweet and rather refreshing considering that for the past year they practically only ate packaged food. The crust was flaky and warm. Leo had looked at his plate in hopes of finding leftovers but there wasn't a crumb left.

Afterwards, they all retired back to the living room where the girls quickly buried themselves in blankets. It wasn't particullarly cold, but it was chilly. The rest of them found themselves on the rug. Nico stuck close to Bianca, leaning on the couch she laid on.

"Do you guys live here?" Bianca inquired, stifling a yawn.

Percy laughed, "Nope. I used to live in New York City."

Grover, who hadn't spoke much the rest of the evening, shook his head, "It's part of Olympus now. It's not the biggest city state but it has a pretty big population."

"Yeah," Percy nodded, his smiled faltering, "me and my mom got invited to go to Atlantis a while after the drought began. She lives there now. It's really nice there. We have a lot of water to spare. Not enough to give it away, but hey, we got some fruit trees and that type of thing."

"Actually," Annabeth injected, "we all came from New York. Now we move around a lot. Percy and Leo are worth a pretty penny now with the need for people who know how to work the machines. I just help them design some things."

Grover smiled, "I just make sure they know where they're going."

Annabeth scoffed, "He's our agricultural expert."

"That's a fancy way of putting it," Grover mused, now munching on what looked like grass and shredded paper. Did the guy ever eat real food?

"Atlantis is really cool. You two should come some time. Maybe Thalia can get a break off of work and come too. We've got aquariums and huge plantations. It's really something."

"Really?" It came out breathier than he intended.

"Yeah," Percy scooted closer, his eyes sparkling, "There's a ton of boats too. We ship some of our fruit around. We don't have blueberries but we have other things. You should really see it."

The idea of boats and aquariums didn't seem to make sense but it sounded amazing. Percy continued to talk about Atlantis while Leo occasionally injected some random fact. Bianca has fallen asleep and everyone else was in a state of dozing off too. Percy had tossed him a blanket and he laid down on the floor, his lids drooping as he tried to keep himself awake. In the first time since the drought, he felt safe.

* * *

 **I already have the next chapter written. It just needs a lot of editing. But until then please tell me what you think. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

When he woke up, he was in a bed. He could hear the sound of running water. It felt strange but the feeling quickly washed away. The bed was soft and plush. The sheets on it smelled freshly washed and were a vibrant white. Clean sheets. Nico never realized what a luxury laundry was until the drought. He pressed his face against the bedding and sighed. He hadn't opened his suitcases since they got there. Zoë had placed them at the foot of his bed with a bowl of plastic fruit on top to serve as a corny decoration.

Washing his face felt foreign and even flushing the toilet gave him a slight scare. Before, they had gotten by on wet wipes and bucket baths. It didn't feel great but they had enough designer perfumes to cover up whatever they couldn't wash off. It was refreshing, being clean for once.

He was still confused at how Zoë was able to live in such a large house. Even some of the hotel rooms in the Vegas hotels they stayed at didn't have bathrooms the size of hers. The houses on the outskirts of Westover were much smaller and less grand. They looked more like… well, normal houses.

By the time he was finished getting ready, everyone else had gathered in the kitchen, eating pancakes as they were made off the stove. It was a noisy affair.

Bianca waved him over, "I saved you a plate."

The plate was piled high with fluffy golden brown pancakes, drenched in a sticky purple sauce. He nearly moaned at the taste: vanilla and blueberries. It was still warm.

Annabeth poured him a cup of coffee. It was instant, but it was better than nothing. Where on earth did all this food come from? In vegas, they just raided the liquor stores and lived off mostly canned food and snacks. Pancakes required eggs right? Weren't chickens a bit difficult to raise without wasting water? Then there was the flour. Taking another bite, he realized that he could hardly care about where the food came from.

Thalia stood across the kitchen island from them, drinking what looked like tea, "It's your lucky day, Nico. You get to clean up the front of the old school. They'll supply you a mop there."

"Wha," he managed to say with his mouth full of pancakes.

Bianca punched his arm, "Just because there's a drought doesn't mean you get to talk with your mouth full. Manners please."

"Sorry," he apologized.

"You know what that means," Leo practically shouted, wielding a butter knife, dripping with syrup.

He blinked.

"You're going with us, buddy! Well at least we get to take you to the school. You can watch my magnificent driving skills."

Grover guffawed, "Not a chance, Leo. We're letting Annabeth drive. She's the only one with an actual driver's license. We just met Nico we can't let you kill him."

"Not fair," Leo whined, sulking as he shoved another mouthful of pancakes into his mouth, "driver licenses don't mean anything now anyways. She's only got one because she's older than me."

"I'm barely older by two years," Annabeth retorted.

Leo slumped his shoulders and sat himself on the floor, "They told me I was too young to drive when i tried to get one."

"Well, duh, you're barely seventeen," Grover pointed out, "before the drought you were like fifteen."

"They said I had to take online classes. I don't need stupid online classes. I'm Leo Valdez!"

"Hey," Bianca exclaimed, "Nico's seventeen too."

Leo jumped up from his seat, smiling wider than ever before, "Well then! That must be fate! We're going to be the best of friends aren't we? Ooo… I think I'm taller too!"

"Uhh.."

"Stop harassing him," Annabeth scolded, "Finish your pancakes. We're going to be late."

He had worried that he would have been the last one to be finished with breakfast but even after he cleared his plate, Percy and Leo were still going back for more. Grover was sitting on the ground with a bowl of the blueberry syrup, eating it with a stick. The front of his ragged green shirt was covered in the sticky purple substance.

Annabeth merely rolled her eyes and poured more batter into the pan.

Bianca and Zoë left soon after. They had mentioned something about helping someone expand their garden. He couldn't help but think that Bianca had made herself quite at home here. She smiled a lot more than she did in Vegas. Nico wasn't sure what to think of Westover or the little girl who ran it, but he doubted that anywhere else was much better. They had pancakes and water, considering the state of the rest of the world, it didn't seem all that bad.

The ride there was rather uneventful, considering that the back of the van had no windows. Leo had claimed that the hunter's didn't allow them to drive their RV around and that they normally got around in that.

The school borderline looked like a haunted house. It stood at the edge of a cliff and the structure was similar to that of an old castle. The windows were all painted black. There was no grass, but algae had begun to grow from the cliffs. A few maidens, fully armed with arrows and some type of light armor, stood in front. There was a sign besides them that said, 'Westover Academy', with the word 'Academy' slashed out. A picture of a raindrop with a smiley face was painted on the corner of the sign.

Thalia provided him with a broom and a hand brush, "Make the front nice and sparkly."

"See, I told you. They always give guys the nasty jobs here," Leo whispered. He was wearing some type of tool belt that had basic tools and a few pouches but nothing else. The rest of the group carried basically nothing. It didn't seem right considering that they were supposed to work on the machines.

Annabeth had a laptop bag slung over her arm and was leaning against the van. She was watching Percy and Grover, who were dropping stones over the edge of the cliff.

"Artemis doesn't hate men," Thalia retorted," she just favors women."

Leo scoffed, "She might not hate men but I'm sure most of the maidens do. Just look at them all, just waiting for us to fall off the cliff."

Thalia ignored him, "Nico, you can start at the front of the school. There will be others coming to help soon. Don't push yourself too hard."

There was borderline nothing to clean. Nico felt that he was merely moving pebbles on the floor. The rest of the group had disappeared and went inside the school, which was strangely silent. There was no sound of water coming from inside the school. Even the ocean was silent.

He knew that the lack of movement in the oceans was caused by the lack of weather and wind, but it was strange to experience it. It was one of the contributors to the worldwide famine. In countries where the people depended on the ocean for food and their livelihoods, the populations practically disappeared. One day, dead fish just came up from the ocean. Monsoons no longer watered their crops. There were barely any waves. Then there were none. The oceans were dead just like the rest of the earth.

The oceans became even more acidic and dangerous. Scientists had wanted to explore them, to see if any species were left, but no one was willing to fund the expeditions. Afterall, there was a world crisis going on. Once the oceans were dead, desalination machines became even more popular. Nobody felt bad throwing brine back into an already useless ocean. There was nothing left to kill.

Realizing that there was no one overlooking him, he walked over to the cliff. The ocean was green and still. The cliff was covered with algae, apparently the only thing that could grow from the ocean water. There was nothing that made him feel that he was standing besides the ocean. The air was stale and not a single wave crashed against the rock. There was no ocean foam, only the smell of salt.

"It's not that pretty anymore. Nobody likes it there anymore," He turned around to face Percy, who was effectively soaked. It fitted him.

A whistle sounded behind them. Nico looked around and saw nothing. The maidens that surrounded the school were too inspecting the horizon, bows ready. He felt himself being pushed back. Percy's arm was around him, keeping him from falling off the cliff.

"Stay behind me," Percy said, his voice stiff.

For a city state where they worshipped a little girl, it didn't feel safe. Was is going to be another boar attack?

He didn't know where she came from, but Annabeth now stood besides him, bow pulled. Did all girls have bows now?

In the distance, he could hear yelling, "What's happening?"

Annabeth shook her head, "They can sense us. We shouldn't have all come."

 _Sense?!_

"But this has never happened before. We usually travel together just fine," Percy pleaded, still in a defensive stance, "There should be just enough wards to keep them away. Leo and I have made this trip dozen of times."

"Things are different now, Percy. Not everything is going to be the same. Maybe they're getting stronger or maybe they're attracted to the hunters," Annabeth sounded exhausted, "I really don't know, Percy."

He wasn't worried before but now his heart began to race. There was something really wrong with Westover. What was sensing them? Didn't boars just dig for roots? He thought back to the metal horns. Oh fuck no.

Percy shook his head, "Leo and I come here all the time. We might get one following us but that's it. Never anything the huntresses can't handle."

Arrows were being shot but nothing was happening. Percy's body was blocking the way. He peeked over his shoulder and saw two girls and a lot of smoke.

Well, at least he thought they were two girls. They looked a little off. Were they on fire? They wore something that reminded him of the cheerleaders at his old school. Small white skirts with a bold blue stripe and a white tank top with the name of a team. A few of the maidens appeared to be dazed, while others showered the two girls in arrows. The cheerleaders were extremely agile, threading in and out of the way of arrows, while laughing maniacally. One of them did a cartwheel as if running from arrows was some type of obstacle course.

He thought he heard Percy say something about empanadas, which wasn't exactly helpful. Empanadas were great but there were flaming girls running towards them. Food wasn't going to help them.

"Stop looking at them, Percy," Annabeth scolded.

Percy shook his head, "Sorry."

A shower of arrows rained down on the two girls. One of the maiden's arrow's hit one of the girls and she disappeared. He couldn't believe his eyes. He blinked over and over again. Did she burn to death? Why wasn't anyone helping her? Where was she?

The second girl merely stopped before continuing to run over towards them. She smiled as if she was completely unaware that she was burning. However, she wasn't. There was fire in her hair but not a single part of her looked as if it was burnt. It was almost as if the fire was her hair. That couldn't be, could it?

"Hello, Percy," she cooed, coming increasingly closer. Her icy blue eyes shifted until they were the color of rubies. As her lips pulled away from the teeth, he saw that they were blindingly white and as sharp as knives. Annabeth pulled back the string of her bow.

A sword appeared and in a second, she too disappeared. There was a loud screech but it ended so soon he couldn't recall if it actually happened. The algae that was around them bubbled and blackened. Thick smoke enveloped them, making him cough.

"Couldn't you have done that sooner, Seaweed Brain? She could've hurt Nico."

"Hey, you were the one with bow."

"What just happened?"

They both looked at him, their eyes wide.

Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder, "We'll explain later. It's too hard to explain now."

"But what did he even see?" Percy urged, looking worried.

Did Percy just kill someone? But he didn't. There was no body on the floor. There should have been a body shouldn't there be? He sliced her in half. There was no blood, but he saw the sword go through her body. A fire couldn't burn a body that quickly. Annabeth and Percy had some type of silent argument before looking back at him.

"Let's bring you to your sister, Nico," Percy said, smiling, as if nothing happened. Nico couldn't take his eyes off the sword. Where could Percy possibly hide that thing. It was completely clear of any blood and almost sparkled a brilliant bronze color. Did people still use swords?

"Something just happened. You killed her. She was on fire." Nico couldn't breath. Someone just died. Percy killed her.

"Well I didn't _kill_ her-"

Annabeth stopped him and dropped her bow, "She was on fire? What did she look like to you?"

He tried to think, "She had blonde hair. It was on fire. It was made of fire. Her eyes were blue then red."

Percy raised a brow, "Should he be seeing that?"

"I think we need to bring him to Artemis. He shouldn't be able to see an empousa. At least not that part."

"See what?" Nico was getting frustrated.

"We need to get you to Artemis first. She'll kill us if we don't. I promise, we'll explain this when we get there," Percy reassured but it sounded too nervous to be comforting.

"I'll send an Iris," Annabeth sighed, walking in the opposite direction.

Percy led him back to the car, holding his shoulder the entire time. The maidens watched them curiously but seemed rather unfazed for girls who were just shooting at flaming cheerleaders.

"Sit next to me," Percy offered, patting the passenger seat.

It was nice, being able to see, but it didn't help much. Percy tried making small talk but Nico was too confused to pay attention. What just happened? Annabeth came back in a few minutes and sat in the back, "I'm getting Zoë to bring back Bianca too. I think she might want to be here for this. A flock of stymphalian birds had attacked them earlier this morning."

The ride to the town hall was quiet. The streets were significantly emptier, did word of the flaming cheerleaders get out? Nico almost laughed. He had heard from some overzealous religious folk back in Vegas that God was punishing them. Punishing them with flaming cheerleaders. How were they to live without their cheerleaders?

At the town hall, Artemis was waiting outside. She was taller than he remembered. She too carried a bow. Hers seemed to be made of bronze, similar to that of the sword Percy carried. Suddenly, he realized that the sword seemed to have disappeared. He took a quick look around the van and saw nothing. Did Percy leave it on the cliff?

A small crowd of maidens stood around her, as if protecting her. They seemed to be in rather high spirits considering what just happened. Did they know? Did they know two girls had burned to death?

Bianca and Zoë were standing to the side. He had thought that Bianca would run towards him but she didn't. He wanted her to. Bianca merely glanced and him and smiled. She was glowing.

Percy opened the door for him and led him out, staying close. When they were in front of Artemis, Percy and Annabeth bowed. He took it as a cue to bow too. Despite the lack of breeze, her dress shifted about her. She was the same girl as before, at least he thought she was. Artemis looked older now. Her face was sharper, her movements more elegant.

"Lady Artemis," Annabeth said, "I thought it was best to bring him here."

Artemis nodded, stepping closer to them. Annabeth moved out of the way but Percy remained still, "Nico Di Angelo. I knew there was something special about you and your sister."

"Do you know his parentage," Percy asked, which garnered him an irritated look from Annabeth.

Artemis smiled, "I do. But I believe we should wait until he is claimed. It is the privilege of the parent to claim their child. But I don't believe this is the place for him. Demigods are a danger to humans. We have never gotten empousa around here until today. It was dangerous enough allowing the team to come to check on the machines. They are working well?"

Annabeth nodded, "Percy and Leo have improved them. The water runs faster now. Should we bring him to Chiron?"

"I believe that would be the best course of action."

Bianca refused to meet his eyes. Was he being banished? Why wasn't she moving?

"We'll leave tonight," Percy offered.

A slow smile made it's way onto her face and she nodded.

"What about my sister?" He was begging for her to look at him but she wouldn't. Bianca looked at her boots, the same boots the rest of the maidens wore.

"She's one of my maiden's now. We just finished the initiation. Nothing will come after her. She is safe here."

She wasn't leaving with him. His sister was going to stay. After being together since they were born, they were going to be split apart.

When they returned to Zoë's house, they tried to tell him what it meant to be a demigod but it didn't make sense to him or maybe he wasn't paying attention. They were all out on the front porch. Thalia had insisted that they have a picnic to send them off. Bianca sat far away from him. It hurt.

Annabeth told him about parentage. He didn't remember his father too well. He was a tall man with dark features. Occasionally, he would come and give them gifts, talk to his mother. However, that was when they were young. By the time of his mother's accident, they had not seen him in years. There was no paperwork on him. He did not come for the funeral. Now he was to believe that the man was a God? He knew his mother loved him but his memory was cold.

Gods. In a world with gods and goddesses, a drought shouldn't be possible. If there were so many, why couldn't one of them fix the earth? Why was there science or scientist of well…. Anything? Why couldn't a God save his mother? If his father was a God, how could he leave them all alone in such a crisis?

Leo and Percy had tried to reassure him, that being a demigod was 'cool'. He didn't want to be cool. He didn't want powers.

They had gotten artificial logs to create a small bonfire in which Percy and Leo dumped in portions of their meal. Grover sat down besides him but said nothing. He was just looking at him as if his parentage would show through. At that point, who knew? Maybe there was just a giant symbol on his head.

"Maybe you're like Leo, are you good with machines?"

He wasn't. He couldn't bring himself to speak, so he just shook his head.

Grover was still smiling but he sighed, "If anything, you might just be one of those lucky humans that can see through the mist. You might not be a demigod at all."

"But Artemis said he was," Annabeth insisted, "the gods are never wrong about this kind of thing."

So Artemis was a goddess. It didn't make sense but at the same time it did. Afterall, she glowed and had a strange cult-like allegiance formed of young women. He glanced at Bianca who only gave him a small smile. Her hair was in a braid and she too had the unearthly glow. The bow she carried earlier sat in front of her.

"Hey," Percy whispered to him, "we're going to leave soon. Want to have some last words with your sister. You'll see her again, but not for a while. It's a long ride where we're going and Iris messages haven't been working the same way as they were before."

Nico nodded. He was angry. He was scared. He was everything at once but he didn't want to be. He walked over to her and Bianca stood up.

"Want to take a walk, Neeks," she offered. Bianca looked to Zoë for approval. The other girl nodded, her lips tight.

They walked around the perimeter of the house, when they were out of sight of the others, Bianca sighed.

"I'm not sorry, Nico. Artemis says you'll be safe with Percy and them. They're really strong. Zoë's been telling me everything since the first day. She told me about all the gods. I know I want to be here, Nico. I haven't ever felt this at home since I got here," Bianca gestured around them, "I want this to be my home. Artemis represents everything I care about."

What about him? What about family? She was everything he had left. He wanted to ask so badly.

Bianca pulled him into a hug, even up close, her skin glowed, "I love you, Nico. You know that. I always will. But I think this is for the best. I want this for me. I love it here."

"I don't want to leave you," he pleaded, his voice quivering.

She held him at arm's distance, "I know. Everything has changed, Nico. I could do everything I love here but there aren't many opportunities for you. You could find out who our godly parent is. It'll be a adventure. The world is so different from what we thought it was. Just think of all the cool things you'll see. The things you can become. I'm going to be a huntress."

Bianca has said it with such finality that he couldn't argue. He wanted to. He wanted her to come with him. Bianca had taken care of him since their mother died. Even before then, she would stand by his side and protect him. She was nineteen now. If the drought hadn't happened, she would have been in college. She would have been independent. She had dreams. He was a burden to her. Now she got the chance to have her life back. He couldn't blame her for taking it.

"You'll be safe?"

A spark lit up in her eyes, "I'll be strong. Have you seen the way the huntresses shoot? They're amazing. Just think, someday I'll be like them. I'll be able to protect myself. It'll be as if I have sisters. They are my sisters."

"That sounds great," he was lying.

Bianca laughed, "It is! There's so many beautiful things here. Zoë told me the place you're going is going to be great too. It has strawberry farms. You love strawberries. It's beautiful. These places the gods run are just- I can't even explain it Nico. It's like magic. Things aren't going too well now but I'm sure things will get better."

"When they do, will we see each other again."

She stopped laughing, "I'll follow Artemis and the rest of the hunters forever. They're immortal. I'm immortal. I might not be able to visit you but if I do, I'll be exactly the same."

So it was forever. She was going to be with the hunters, maidens, whatever they were, forever.

"It'll be okay, Nico. They're going to bring you somewhere where you belong," she sounded so genuine it pained him.

Nico couldn't think of anywhere that he would belong. Obviously, it wasn't here. It wasn't Las Vegas. It wasn't D.C. He had always thought home was where family was, but now he didn't even have that.

She held onto his hand and squeezed it, "Zoë said we could talk, time to time, with Iris messages. It's like skype. It'll be fun, Nico."

He nodded.

"They're waiting for us, let's go back."

The bonfire was still burning and plates were still spewn across the porch. Fireflies and moths hovered around them. It was getting cooler. The sky was dark and full of stars. Bianca gave him one more quick hug, kissing the top of his head. It really was going to be goodbye. Percy came over to him, throwing an arm over his shoulders. He felt alone.

Bianca stood besides Zoë and Thalia, both of them smiling and waving. He wanted to run over and make her come with him. He wanted to scream to her that they were family. Family was supposed to stick together. She was all he had. Nico couldn't help but think that she fit in perfectly with the two other girls. Even in the dark of the night, their skin gave off a silvery glow. Percy walked him to the van and with every step his heart beat faster. It was happening. After a year, the disaster was going to split them up too.

They sat around until Thalia suggested that the huntresses should go to bed. Hugs were exchanged and everyone smiled. Nico stood by himself, not sure where he belonged.

Grover clapped his arm, "Ready to leave, Buddy? It's going to be quite a ride. Leo already put your suitcases in the van. We're going to make a quick stop to get the R.V."

"After that, we'll go to Camp Half Blood. You'll really like it there," Leo offered, "Maybe you'll find brothers or sisters there."

He was tired of people telling him he was going to like things.

They stopped at a warehouse which Annabeth said sat on the border of the city-state. Inside the warehouse sat a bronze RV. Well at least they called it an RV. It took up the whole warehouse and was about the size of an eighteen-wheeler It had scales and a tail. He gave up. It could be a goddamned dragon for all he cared.

A huntress stood guard outside the warehouse and had taken the keys to the van.

Leo stood at the front of the thing and clapped his hands together, "Festus! Daddy's back!"

The head of a mechanical dragon rose from under the RV, its red eyes blinking back at Leo. Almost affectionately, it reached out towards Leo and nudged his arm.

Leo turned back to face him, a smirk gracing his elfish features, "Welcome aboard the Argo II, Neeks. You're in for an adventure."

The vehicle, dragon, whatever it was moved itself out of the warehouse. For a moment, he thought they were going to be crushed. It creaked to a stop in front of them and a ladder dropped, startling him.

Annabeth grabbed hold of the ladder first and climbed up. At the top she shouted down, "The only way in is up here."

Some RV this was.

Grover helped him up onto the ladder. The top of the RV was more like the deck of a boat.

Annabeth pointed at a set of stairs that led into the body of the car, "Just go in there. It's safe. I promise."

The interior couldn't have possibly have been the interior of an RV. A map of the United States was tacked up onto one wall, covered in push pins, notes, and string. A conference table large enough to fit a dozen people sat in the center of the room. There were halls leading in all directions. All the furniture seemed to be made of metal, including the walls. Blinking knobs and buttons decorated the wall besides the map. How did this fit into the damned RV?

"Impressed? I made it myself!"

Leo stood at the end of the conference table, his finger pointing to something in the map, "No need to hold the applause. She's a beauty ain't she? My brothers and sisters made the furniture for us. I designed it all obviously, but a man's gotta give credit where it's due."

Nico grabbed onto a chair as the Argo jerked forwards.

"Hmm, I think she might need some oiling," Leo said thoughtfully, taking a canister off his tool belt.

Nico heard the sound of trotting and turned around. Where there should have been feet coming out of Grover's jeans, were solid black hoofs, decorated with tufts of fur. He was having enough of this magic stuff.

Grover was munching on a styrofoam cup, Nico's suitcases under both his arms, "Annabeth said everything's ready. Wanna get going, Captain?"

Leo nodded and cranked a few of the knobs. The Argo jerked once more before it got into motion. His knuckles were going white from gripping the chair. A metallic roar echoed around them and rung in his ears for minutes afterwards.

The Argo was surprisingly smooth once it started moving. It was almost as if it was flying, he wouldn't have doubted that they were.

Leo had told him that they would be there the next morning and had gone down below to do some work on the engine. Nico still couldn't understand how the Argo's interior was so massive considering that the vehicle wasn't anywhere near large enough to contain it. Annabeth had tried to explain it to Nico, but everything was lost on him.

"Don't worry about it," Grover said with a wave of a hand, "It's just magic."

"No it's not just magic. The mist makes the exterior appear much smaller than it actually is and the walls of the Argo are made of celestial bronze which can be manipulated to make artificial space," Annabeth explained, obviously tired of having to repeat herself.

Grover nodded, looking straight at Nico and widening his eyes, "Magic."

Annabeth huffed, giving up, "Just stop misinforming him. I'm sure someone Hephaestus cabin could show him how it's done."

"You mean if someone from the Athena cabin doesn't talk his head off first trying to," Grover added mockingly.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I'll take the first shift. Just show Nico his room."

The group quickly fell into a routine. One person would stand guard atop the Argo while the rest retired to their rooms. Apparently attacks like the one he experienced in Westover were a common occurrence when traveling with demigods. They had told him that Camp Half Blood had special protections that kept them out. He doubted it but, then again, he doubted everything.

The room he stayed in reminded him of the dorm rooms Bianca had brought him to when they toured colleges, just a little bit smaller. There were two bunk beds, a few trunks, a closet, and a window. For the night, he was to have his own room. Sleep evaded him and he found himself perched by the window. There wasn't much to see. Everything outside was a blur.

"Can't sleep?" Percy was leaning against the frame of the door, a steaming mug in his hands. He wore a corny t shirt with a picture of a dolphin and baggy gray sweatpants. Even in the dark, his eyes glinted green.

Nico suddenly aware that he was in his boxers pulled a blanket off a nearby bunk and shook his head.

"Artemis is one terrifying goddess and her huntresses are capable archers. Your sister is going to be safe. The gods are strong," Percy offered, walking into the room.

Collapsing into one of the beds, Nico asked, "Then why did they let this happen."

The taller boy paused, "They're stubborn. They," he began, only to shake his head. "My father got angry at some of the other gods and they are angry with him. It's complicated."

"You guys keep on telling me Bianca and I are going to be safe. How can you be so sure when you've got all this happening? I'm supposed to believe that billions of people died because a few of these gods got angry at each other?"

Percy laughed nervously, "Well I don't really know. Just try trusting us a little bit."

Irritated, he glared at Percy who gave him a sheepish smile.

He took one deep breath and rolled over, taking the duvet along with him. Covered by the heavy blanket, he felt safer. There was a worldwide drought. Bianca was no longer with him. He was headed to some strange camp for children of gods. He was the child of a god. It fogged up his brain and riled up his nerves.

Who was he kidding? He didn't feel safe. It wasn't that he doubted that Percy and the rest of them were good people. It was just that nothing felt certain anymore. Even when their mother died or the drought started, they could depend on each other. In a sense, he felt betrayed. The feeling, although somewhat subdued by his belief that Bianca deserved to live the way she pleased, still lingered. She had always protected him, whether it was from bullies or strangers. She was always right by his side. Now, he was headed to a camp he had never heard of without her. She had chosen the maidens over him. No. That wasn't right. She chose happiness. Just why couldn't he be apart of that?

He felt the bed lower as Percy sat down besides him.

"When I was told I was a demigod, I thought it was a big joke. I didn't want to leave my mom. It was just us. I wanted to protect her, you know? I found out she was safer without me. The monsters didn't want to hurt her. They wanted me. She was better off that way," Percy paused and let out a breath of air, "Camp Half Blood trains us. Before the war, we would search out demigods and bring them there. It was like a little haven where we could get prepared for the real world so that when we went out we could fight our own monsters."

Nico merely shoved his face deeper into the blanket. It was scratchy but he couldn't be bothered to care.

"I met a lot of friends there. I even learned how to fight with a sword."

What could a sword do to end the drought or even some strange archer goddess.

There was a smile in Percy's voice, "It was fun. I felt like I belonged. I mean sometimes we were sent out on death missions and occasionally some monstrous lizard would attack, but I had friends," Percy reminisced.

"Was that supposed to cheer me up?" Nico said into the blanket.

"You're a bit of a smart ass aren't you?" Percy asked, his tone playful.

"Who knows?"

Percy shoved the blanket Nico was wrapped up in, "Go to sleep."

"I was trying to before you came in," Nico retorted, pulling the blanket back onto himself. For some reason he couldn't explain, he didn't want Percy to see him. He felt like a child throwing a tantrum.

The bed rose.

"And here I thought you were a sweet, shy, little boy."

"Fuck off."

Percy laughed as he left, "Sleep well, Nico."

He pressed his face against the bed. It felt warm.


	3. Chapter 3

He had given up on the idea that Bianca was going to contact him after the first week. Annabeth had explained to him the way Iris messages worked and had even got in contact with Thalia, but Bianca was nowhere to be seen. Thalia had promised to teach Bianca how to make an Iris message and told him that she was just busy with training. Still, it stung that his sister didn't even care enough to talk to him. She was probably happy to be rid of a brat like him.

Luckily, his own training allowed him to get his mind off Bianca. The day he arrived, Percy had taught him how to wield a sword. It came effortlessly. He had never thought he was particularly good at anything, but he was gaining confidence in his swordsmanship. He spent every spare second he had practicing his sparing. By the second week, he could hold his own against some of the best. Sometimes, a few of the campers would watch him but all of them kept a fair distance away. Even the nymphs that took care of the place seemed to avoid him.

They had tried to talk to him but he wasn't the most social person. He had turned down the offer to sleep in the Hermes cabin and instead continued sleeping on the ship, which had made Leo quite proud.

The whole "Gods" thing still confused him. Annabeth had provided him with volumes of books on the gods and greek myths, which were rather entertaining to read but only gave him more questions. There were about twenty cabins that made a strange horseshoe shape (an omega, according to Annabeth) that held the children of each of the gods. He could be the child of any of the gods, even ones not represented by a cabin. Most of them lived in a place called Mount Olympus, which was in the city state not too far from where they were now. Apparently they had powers, which their children reflected.

Many of the other campers had tried to test to see what his parentage was but their efforts were in vain. He was absolute shit at archery and had no musical skill whatsoever, so the children of Apollo were pretty disappointed. The Hephaestus cabin had decided that his craft skills were only mediocre. He had killed enough strawberries by stepping on them to know that he was not a child of Demeter. There was no way in hell that he could compete academically with any child of Athena and from how he managed to keep most of the camp away from him, he was pretty darn sure he wasn't a child of Aphrodite.

"Maybe you're a child of Ares," suggested Leo, pointing towards the cabin where a pair were wrestling outside, "you have that glare down."

As far as he could tell, he was half the size of the female children of Ares. He had a pretty strong guess that wasn't his cabin.

Leo was tending to Festus, who was getting irritated at the lack of attention he was getting. Most of the campers, other than the Hephaestus kids, avoided the dragon. Nico didn't blame them. Every few minutes Festus let out a puff of burning steam. Leo assured the him that it was perfectly safe but he decided he liked his skin too much to have it melted off.

Out of all people, Leo somehow became his friend. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover were almost always off on missions.

"I don't think so."

Leo smirked, "Yeah, probably not. Don't worry, Neeks."

Something reminiscent of an air horn sounded. Nico felt him heart stop for a bit, only to be jolted back to life by Leo's jumping and hollering.

A game of capture the flag was announced to be held that evening. It caused quite the bustle around camp. Children of all ages walked about wearing heavy armor and weapons. Nico didn't think he enjoyed the idea of kids that young yielding weapons but then again, he realized that he didn't enjoy most things anyways. Leo told him all the rules, all while crafting some sort of strange cannon like contraption.

"What if somebody gets killed? Isn't it dangerous in there?"

Leo shrugged, "Chiron works as a doctor and we got the Apollo kids here too. They're pretty good doctors. We aren't that easy to kill anyways."

Nico pointed at the cannon, "What if somebody gets hits by this?"

"They're probably going to be wearing armor, it won't be too bad."

Nico eyed the bronze cannon but said nothing.

Because he was yet to be claimed, he was to join the Hermes cabin. They were in the same team as the Ares cabin, the Aphrodite cabin, the Demeter cabin, and a few others he didn't really bother to learn.

Clarisse, one of the older campers, acted as their captain. Nico didn't know what to feel about her. Her face reminded him of Thalia's, just much more menacing and gruff. Gruff. Yup. That seemed to be the right word to describe her. He had never thought that he would ever describe a girl as a brick wall, but that was exactly the vibe she gave off. She was tall, with broad shoulders and perfect posture. Even though far from being the largest, there was a certain aura she gave off that made her seem impenetrable.

He had expected there to be much more fighting amongst the Ares cabin for who would lead, but they seemed to be taking the game very seriously. Clarisse drew a map on the floor and began to assign defense positions and a few teams that would attempt to capture the other team's flag. Nico quickly realized he knew next to nothing about the woods. As other campers ran off to their positions, Clarisse looked up at him.

"Just keep near the flag. You don't look like you'd be a good defence."

Nico frowned.

Clarisse made a face he couldn't read, "We all know you can work a sword. Just get rid of anyone getting too close."

With that, a boom sounded in the air and Clarisse was off. With all the armor that she wore and the enormous sword that she kept by her side, he couldn't fathom how she disappeared into the woods so quietly.

He could hear campers fighting around him. From what it sounded like, they were either extremely dramatic or they were trying to kill each other.

An arrow whipped past his head, startling him. He held the sword he borrowed from the armory in his hands, staying in a defensive stance. God, this felt stupid. Is this what demigods did for fun? Maybe this type of thing was what led so many to their early deaths. Blame the monsters. Let's not blame these stupid games. He inched closer to the tree, just to be safe.

The forest was thick. It wasn't the same kind of forest that Westover had. The leaves managed to almost completely block out the sun at certain places, making the forest look murky and dark. Not only that, most of the trees were covered in scratches and marks. He felt that this was the kind of place that dangerous things lurked.

Nico kept his place under the tree, remaining as still as humanly possible. There were sounds of fighting off in the distance but they were growing quieter. Why couldn't the damned game be over. They just had to capture the flag and it'd be finished. He leaned back into the tree. Only thing was, the tree wasn't there.

The world went black.

When he was able to see again, a blue flag was mere inches away from his face. Without thinking, he grabbed it.

"How'd you get here?" The girl looked at him, partially outraged but mostly confused.

"Stop him!" a guy yelled out to her.

That seemed to knock the girl out of her confusion. She ran over, aiming her arrow.

Panicking, he stumbled back, wanting to get back to his stupid post. The ground around him shifted, making his stomach churn.

Nico blinked. He was on the other side of the river and was standing right in front of Clarisse who stared at him blankly. As she got closer, her lips curved up in a smile. He could hear cheering in the forest around them. Campers ran over to ruffle his hair.

"Not bad, shortie. What kind of trick was that?"

As quickly as her smile came, it left. She took a step back. Deftly, she pointed to the space above his head. His feet felt heavy, he was glued to the ground.

"What's wrong?"

Clarisse shook her head, her brow scrunching together, "It can't be."

The ground beneath them rumbled.

"Hey! Neeks," Leo shouted as made his way through the crowd, "How'd you guys," Leo paused, "Oh shit."

Nico huffed, "Oh shit- what? What's wrong? Why isn't anyone talking"

Leo pointed at the ground, "I mean either you're the son of a pirate who likes sugar skulls or the big old grump himself."

At his feet sat a pile of gold nuggets, bones, and a jeweled skull.

Clarisse grunted, no longer in shock, "You fucking idiot. His dad is Hades."

The ground again rumbled and shook, as if in response to her words. Leo bent down to pick up one of the nuggets, pocketing it. The others campers merely gawked at the pile and the strange cloud above his head.

"To remember the occasion," Leo said as he pocketed a few more nuggets of gold, "but I think right now we should get you to Chiron."

Some of the campers nodded in agreement while others remained dazed. The black cloud over his head began to fade.

Clarisse picked up the skull and handed it to him, "I think you should bring this. It's a gift from your father."

The jeweled skull felt incredibly heavy and he staggered as Clarisse dropped it into his arms. If it weren't for Leo guiding him, he wouldn't have been able to move. Nico couldn't help but feel that the campers were staying further away than usual. Only Clarisse and Leo would meet his eyes.

Leo tried reassuring him on their way to Chiron but he couldn't pay attention. Death… of course.

At the Big House, Chiron and Annabeth were out front. News travelled fast.

Chiron was not in his wheelchair and had to duck a bit when leading them into the house. Percy and Grover sat inside, arguing over what was written on a piece of paper. When he entered, they stopped their bickering to give simpering smiles. He couldn't look.

"Well that certainly was unexpected," Percy began.

"Not really, if you think about it," Grover added, only to be shut down by Annabeth's glare.

Chiron took a deep breath and sat down, his legs disappearing into the chair, "It is very special, being the child of one of the Big Three. Hades, especially."

Hades. The ruler of the underworld. He tried to think back to all the books Annabeth had given him. Hades had seemed like a terrible man. What man would want to live among the dead and have a kingdom underground? His father. It didn't make sense to him. Could a man who ruled the underworld be a father? He had thought of the other gods, while many of them seemed to be petty and cruel at times, they felt human. Hades? He was just cruel.

Realizing that Nico wasn't going to answer, Chiron let out a cough, "I suppose the oracle wasn't wrong. Hades did have a child."

"Two."

"Yes, the sister. However, she's a huntress. The huntress of Artemis are safe from prophecies," Chiron answered, folding his hands in his lap.

Nico scoured his brain for what he had read about the oracle. He couldn't remember a thing.

"I suppose there is no better time than the present. Perhaps Hades can be persuaded by his son."

Annabeth scoffed, but said nothing.

Percy, on the other hand, immediately perked up, "Are we going on a quest?"

Chiron sighed, "I suppose we must. Although, at this point it is more of a mission. The prophecy is old. It's for you, Percy. Choose who you want to come with you."

"What prophecy?" All eyes in the room landed on him.

Grover was the first to speak up, "The prophecy about the drought. Well. We're not sure if it is about the drought but what else could it be? Can we tell him?"

Annabeth shook her head, "The less people that know, the better. "

"I think Nico should be part of the group."

Somehow, it made him feel better. He gave a short glance towards Percy, who merely smiled back.

Grover picked something out of his teeth, "Long story short, the prophecy said the god's were going to all ruin their little agreement of having no children. They would fight. Olympus falls. All their powers are weakened. The world falls to ruin. The general stuff. Not exactly quest material, you know?"

"Ruin?"

"We supposed that was the drought," Annabeth offered.

"What are we supposed to do about it?"

"Considering that their fighting and disagreements lead to the fall of Olympus, leading them to some type of agreement should fix everything," Annabeth said, not looking very hopeful, "But that just the start of it. Their powers are weak. Getting them to work together is just the first step. It's easier said than done. Believe me, we tried. It's just that we could never get some of the gods to talk to us. With you here, we might have a chance."

Grover scoffed, "Because all the Gods just love Hades."

What on earth could he do? All he did so far was capture a flag by coming out of a tree. Was that his power? Magic tree transportation? With how few trees there were in the world, he doubt that it was a particularly helpful skill.

"I think we might have to see Poseidon. I mean my dad," Percy brought up, "He's the only one who's willing to talk to us."

Annabeth nodded, "Should we try to get in contact with Jason? We might need him if we want an audience with Zeus."

Percy had walked over to where he stood and guided him towards a couch. Overwhelmed by the new information, he took the seat willingly.

"We're going somewhere?" Nico asked, looking up at Percy.

Percy ran his hand through his hair, giving him a crooked smile, "Yup. Atlantis. Guess you'll be seeing it sooner than I thought."

Annabeth leaned against the wall, "So who's going?"

"I guess just us and Leo. We need to use the Argo. Nothing stands up to the monsters as good as that ship does."

Nico began to feel the same sense of dread he felt when he left Bianca. Camp Half Blood, like Westover, was far from being home, but it was something. He didn't want to move around again. Swallowing the dread, he clutched the skull even harder. As if responding to his desperate hold, the skull shrunk into something the size of a coin and fell to the floor. Picking it up, he realized that it had become a small skull shaped ring.

"Gift from your father," Annabeth said, curiously looking at the ring, "I wonder if it does anything."

Slipping it on, a cold chill ran through his body, but nothing else happened.

Leo, who still stood in the doorway, suddenly spoke up, "When do you guys want to leave? If you want to go by tomorrow, you better get packing. I need to load the Argo if we're going to go to Atlantis."

No one else congratulated him for capturing the flag, if anything, they began to stay a further distance away from him. He never thought much about it but there was no Hades cabin. Why would there be one? Wasn't Hades banned from Olympus? What would it have been made of anyways? Human skulls? The ring on his finger seemed to grow colder, as if responding to him.

Leo was commanding a group of Hephaestus kids to lug bronze cannon balls and weapons towards the Argo. The camp was bustling with campers running about and spirits trying to clean up after them, scolding them as they did so. The bronze weapons seemed endless. Piles of it were loaded onto the Argo and they disappeared somewhere within it.

Annabeth didn't move from the command room of the ship, typing furiously on her laptop. A couple of Athena kids were huddled around her, handing her notes and pointing at the map. The map was a fearful looking thing. It was the typical map of America, except almost all of it, save for a few green spots, were decayed. More papers were tacked onto the walls, until the bronze walls were no more. Newspaper articles were drawn on and clipped into little sections, tied together with string. It was almost like they were formulating some sort of conspiracy theory.

Grover merely sat there while a nymph fed him and helped them fill a room with food. When the room was filled, Grover too left the argo, something about nature he said.

When the time came, everyone else left the boat. Nico hid in his room until the Argo began to move again. When somebody knocked on the door, he answered with a grunt.

"Somebody looks cozy there but you better get out. Our resident genius has some sort of game plan."

Nico peeked from under the covers. Percy. He looked worn out.

Percy walked over and yanked the covers off of him, "C'mon. Let's not get her any angrier. She doesn't exactly have a lot of patience."

Nico dragged himself off the bed. His hand immediately went for the little silver ring. Why Hades? He didn't have any Hades-like powers. Did his sister? He didn't remember Bianca doing anything magical.

Annabeth and Leo were arguing over the map, pulling pins and stabbing them back in with ferocious little stabs.

"That way is going to make us take another day to get to the Underworld. We could just fly over the Rockies in a few hours."

"Well we could if we had the favour of Zeus, which if you don't remember, we don't. Anyways the Rockies are filled with monsters at the moment."

Leo pointed at another pin, "We just have to pick up Jason. Anyways, nobody's sure if Zeus actually has any power over there anymore."

"Do you really think Jason is in Olympus?"

He shrugged, "We might as well go and check. It's on the way. It's not even that far away."

Annabeth sighed and plopped herself back down on her chair, "I'm not even sure if Zeus would let us in. He thinks we're siding with Poseidon."

"Well, we kind of are. We got Sea Boy," Leo jerked his thumb at Percy.

Percy gave them all a smile and shrugged, "I think Jason is our best bet."

Annabeth frowned, "Fine. We'll find him and then we'll plan which way we'll go."

They all turned to look at Nico, which made him rather uncomfortable.

Annabeth quickly looked away, "Is Grover coming with us?"

Percy shook his head, "I think he's going out on his own. The whole environmental crisis thing. He's looking for you-know-who."

So Annabeth turned back to the map and moved a few pins, "We pick Jason up at Olympus, stop by Atlantis to get some supplies, and then we're going to head straight towards Atlantis."

The ride was filled with Iris messages and arguments. Nico decided to keep himself away from it. He barely felt that he was a part of the group. He knew nothing. Everything was new to him. Nothing made sense but was said with such assertiveness he could not help believe that it was true.

An hour or so in, Percy called him to the deck of the ship.

He never thought much about the pearly gates of heaven but that was exactly what he was seeing at the moment. Okay, maybe not the typical version of Heaven, but some kind of Heaven. Skyscrapers and tall apartment buildings were visible behind what seemed to be sparkling bronze gates, which were decorated with elegant curls. They seemed to be taller than most of the smaller buildings and gave a rather alluring performance of twisting higher and higher as they approached. There was a strange fog that moved around the gates that moved in strange swirling shapes. He could swear that it was alive.

A young man looked to be floating on the fog. He beamed and waved, jumping in thin air. Was he flying?

"Jason!" Percy seemed absolutely delighted to see the strange floating boy. Even Annabeth and Leo had smiles on their faces.

As if he controlled them, the clouds pushed him onto the deck of the Argo. He looked like the typical frat boy, blonde hair and a cheeky smile.

"The one and only."

When he accidentally made eye contact, Jason smiled even wider. Another friendly person. How delightful.

"The kids of the Big Three all on one boat. This is going to be fun."

Yeah. Fun. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.


	4. Chapter 4

He had thought Westover was a bit off, with all the young girls walking around carrying bows and participating in some type of strange militaristic cult. Olympus was on another level of strange. It looked exactly the way he had expected New York to, maybe a bit too much. Tall buildings towered over them, all portraying large flashing neon signs. The streets were crowded with people, all in a rush to get somewhere. Only thing off was that there was not a single car on the road. Instead, the roads were filled with a low layer of the same fog they ran into at the gates.

Nico fell to the back of the group. There was just too much people.

He felt an arm pull him back to the front.

"You okay?"

He looked up at Jason, who seemed rather normal for the son of Zeus. He, like the rest of the demigods, wore a t-shirt and worn down jeans. Almost everybody else around them wore what could only be described as business attire.

Jason followed his eyes and laughed, "Oh yeah. New York… well Olympus now, is a little strange."

Ah there it was. The smile that blinded him like the sun. Of course the son of Zeus would be like that.

"That's one way to say it," Leo muttered. Leo wasn't exactly happy about the thorough inspection the Argo had to go through at the gates or that they had to leave it in another warehouse.

"They provide the news for the rest of the city-states," Annabeth started.

"You mean they're obsessed with news about the rest of the states," Percy interjected.

Annabeth pointed up at one of the buildings, "Olympus and the people who live here are focused on keeping track of all the other city states. It's important if they ever want to reconcile again. Anyways, with how little communication there is between city states, information is priceless."

"Of course they care. The big man up top is in charge of everything," Leo huffed, shoving someone out of his way, "It's his job to care. He's probably upset that his territory's a lot smaller now."

Annabeth promptly ignored him, "Not only that but Olympus has the most Gods and Goddesses protecting it. That's why nobody within the gates needs weapons."

"If they had weapons they wouldn't act like zombies."

"If they had weapons they might riot and cause more war. There has been enough warfare and death."

Jason and Percy walked ahead of the two, leading them down the streets until they reached a building so tall Nico couldn't see the top of it.

The lobby was filled with strange people muttering in tightly closed circles. All of them nervously glancing at the elevator. Jason brushed passed them and ushered the group into the elevator. He clicked the button for the top floor. Everyone remained quiet as a smooth jazz filled the little steel room.

"Welcome to Olympus," Jason announced, waving his arm out.

It was rather underwhelming. Maybe he was expecting too much. From what he seen in the books, he had expected it to be a bit more… well… magical? The top floor seemed to consist of a floor of cubicles surrounded with other rooms which were separated by panes of glass. There was a little fog seeping from the glass, but it was practically nothing compared to the fog in the streets. The people who sat in the cubicles were a little off and they didn't seem to be rather productive, but it felt rather tame. A luxury office building, but an office building all the same.

Maybe just a little bit more than a little off. They looked somewhat normal enough. Except instead of typing into a computer, they were either playing with the fog or scribbling onto giant scrolls that covered their desks.

"Exciting", Leo muttered.

A rather stern looking woman came up to them, clipboard in hand, "He is a very busy man, Jason."

Nico couldn't take his eyes off her nails. Was he allowed to call them nails if they were about the size of her fingers? They curled around over and over... She kept tapping them on the clipboard and they made the strangest clicking noise.

"It won't take too long, I promise."

She widened her eyes, making her look a little insane, "It won't take too long? Won't take too long."

"C'mon Nike, he probably isn't doing anything worthwhile anyways."

Nike scoffed, "There isn't anything for most Gods to do. What are we to do when our powers are weakened to those of a magicians?"

"So why can't we go see the big man?"

Nike frowned and looked down at Leo, "He is a very busy man."

"You just said there isn't anything for him to do," Annabeth countered.

"Most Gods, my dear Annabeth. Zeus is the ruler of Gods. He is busy. I can put you on the list. It's just a two month wait."

"Two months," Annabeth said in disbelief, "We're trying to save the world."

Nike nodded, "We're all trying to save the world in our own way dear. Why don't you volunteer with the street cleaning crew so you can keep Olympus beautiful. Even with all the nymphs we never manage to keep it clean for long."

In her other hand Nico noticed a pen shaped like a spear.

Percy pushed his way to the front of the group, "But there could be war coming."

Nike sniffed, "There is always war now."

Nico watched as Jason shoved past her and ran down the aisle of cubicles. Before he could blink, Nike disappeared from in front of them and reappeared right before the door. Her eyes glowed a bright gold as she frowned.

"Don't be a brat."

"Then let me through the door," Jason grunted, looking rather defeated.

"You thought you could outrun me," Nike taunted, beginning to look rather amused with the situation.

Jason blankly looked at her and turned the door knob, "No."

Nike slapped his hand away, "He is busy!"

Jason nudged the door with his foot. Nike grabbed for the door knob as some fat man with a box pushed past the quarreling duo.

"My doughnuts are here!"

Nico heard Annabeth let out a sigh, which seemed to reflect on Nike as well. She stepped away from the door and covered her eyes with her hand.

"I suppose he isn't busy at the moment."

Percy dashed down the hall and the rest of the group took that as their sign to start moving too. Nike stood to the side, her arms crossed and her lips pinched, mumbling about gluttony and laziness. Strangely, not a single person on the floor blinked an eye. He really didn't like this place.

It was a rather strange sensation, walking through an office door and entering what looked like heaven. The strange fog that surrounded Olympus was thicker here, almost like clouds. It acted as a strange carpet. There seemed to be no walls in the room, just endless amounts of fog. The room was lit with a strangely golden glow and floating lanterns. Ghostlike nymphs, dressed in silk robes, laid around on piles of clouds, eating jewel-like fruits. It was strangely serene, almost uncomfortably so.

"Where is he?" Annabeth asked, scanning the room.

"Where is who?"

They all turned to face what was undoubtedly Zeus. He was a large man with a stern face, dark hair, and piercing electric blue eyes. He looked strangely out of place in the room. He wore a well ironed suit and bronze tipped leather shoes. In his hand he held a plain glazed donut. The man who entered moments before leaned against a desk that Nico has not noticed before. The desk was littered was sparkling pens and ornaments. The desk itself, however, seemed to have been fashioned the same way as the gates, with swirling patterns and pure bronze.

Jason stepped forward, "They're here to end the drought."

The man with the donuts laughed, "End the drought, huh?"

Zeus ignored him, "Even the gods have given up on the idea of ending the drought. Not even I have the power to end the drought. No God has their full powers."

"We know that. We were hoping you can give us a better explanation why the Gods have done nothing in attempt to end it," Annabeth retorted, seeming rather annoyed.

Thunder roared somewhere in the distance.

A small smiled spread on Zeus's face, "At the persistence of my mother, I have tried. Most of us have tried. Gaea is no longer with us, and the earth has little life in it without her. We cannot all gather without the city states falling apart."

"Gods can't die." Nico looked at Percy, who looked almost angry.

"Yes. Gods cannot die. However, we are fueled by the beliefs and hopes of the ones under us. She is the mother of us all. She is the earth. She has not responded since the drought started."

"Isn't she supposed to be in an eternal sleep," Leo piped up.

"She is. Except now she is weak and so are we. Once the earth and civilizations began to fall apart and die, our powers diminished severely. The thrones in the Hall of Gods have been crumbling. They are held together by the city states that worship us."

"Fat lot that does," Leo retorted, resulted in multiple elbows being shoved in his stomach.

Zeus sent him a pointed stare, "You should know very well that the desalination machines do little to nothing without power from the Gods and demigods. The city-states under our control remain fertile and alive because of us Gods. The states worship us and in return we give them safety and nourishment. It is all we can do."

Annabeth slumped a little, "Is it though?"

"Unless you can convince every God and Goddess to leave their city state and have a meeting in the Hall of Gods, it is impossible to end the drought. The drought would require the working of many Gods."

"Then why has it been an issue," Nico inquired. When Zeus looked at him, he felt his throat tighten.

"Ahh. Hades's Son. Of course. Well your father for one won't listen to any of us. Not only that, the city states would crumble if the Gods that ruled it left for more than a few days. The gathering would have to be carefully planned and all of the Big Twelve would have to be present."

Percy stepped forward, "And then why haven't you done it yet then? If you already know the solution?"

A strange map materialized behind Zeus, with only the Eastern coast not covered in gray clouds, "There is little to no communication between the East and the West coasts at the moment. Gods can be wherever they please only if the God of the city state they wish to go allows them in. However, us Gods cannot act as messengers all the time. That duty falls on Hermes, who has yet to gain entrance for Atlantis and the Underworld as my brothers would not allow for it."

"So what should we do?"

"If you must, then go to Atlantis and the Underworld and make them come here."

"We need protection over the Rockies," Annabeth urged.

Zeus pointed at Jason, who merely smiled in response, "Take him. He probably has more power over that realm than I do at the moment."

"Do you really have no power over the skies?"

"Us Gods only have power over the city-states. Where there is no civilization, we have no power."

Nico felt that their little meeting with Zeus did little but make him more uncomfortable. There was just something that he didn't like about weird cloudy rooms. However, they were given a considerable amount of rations and scrolls, filled with all information Zeus had of the Western city states. Leo and Annabeth were back to arguing about the safest route and Jason and Percy seemed completely unbothered by everything.

They were checked out of Olympus quickly and let back onto the decks of the Argo. Leo decided for them to have a lunch break a little outside of the gates, which Nico prefered immensely.

Annabeth handed out cups of coffee from a Starbucks she found at the edge of the city. Even in a drought, Starbucks persisted.

"Hey guys! Leo said you guys might need me."

Nico had to squint looking at the new arrival. He had blonde hair and insanely bright blue eyes. Leo jumped right up to greet him, attempting to swing his arm over the new boy's shoulders, only to look as if he was hanging off to one side.

"This is my friend, Will. He's one of Apollo's kids. I thought he might be able to help us out if we get injured."

Will smilled directly at Nico and he swore something got caught in his throat.

"Apollo's kid?"

Leo nodded at Percy, "He was a camper until the droughts started. Then he became a travelling medic with his dad!"

Percy raised a brow, "Isn't he a little young for that?"

"I turned eighteen a few months ago," Will offered proudly.

Annabeth promptly ignored Percy and offered Will a seat, "We're having lunch. Please eat with us."

Will sat down on Nico's right and gladly accepted the sandwich and a cup of coffee.

"I never seen you before, I'm Will."

"Nico."

Again, Will smiled, "So where're you from?"

"Las Vegas."

"There's no city-state there. How was it there when the drought started? Isn't it in the desert?"

"Yeah. That's why my sister drove us to the East."

"Oh! Where's your sister?"

Percy wedged himself between Will and Nico, "Nice to meet you Will."

It was a very strange area to sit, considering that in order to sit between the pair, Will had to scoot back and even then Percy could not move his legs from the strange crouched squatting position he was in. It was rather amusing to watch.

"Same goes for you. I never got to meet you the whole time I was at Camp Half Blood. You seem to be a busy guy."

Percy's smile looked strained, "So do you."

Leo shoved the last of his sandwich into his mouth and quickly dragged Annabeth along as well. Nico watched as Jason looked at both groups before decided to board the Argo. Percy seemed to be watching to, but seemed more than content in his little frog pose.

"Leo told me you're the son of Hades. That's pretty cool."

Nico blinked, "Cool?"

"Yeah! Never met one of those."

Another weird one.

"So can you like kill people on the spot or something?"

Again he blinked.

The ground rumbled a few times beneath them. At his feet, small black rocks seemed to have been pushed up from the earth. Will and Percy, quickly fumbled back away from bubbling rocks. A black sword emerged from the center of the rocks, almost steaming. Once it was fully out, it fell over, with the tip pointed towards Nico.

"What the fuck was that!" Percy's eyes were wide, his stance wide, as if ready for more of the ground to spew black molten rock.

Nico crouched down and attempted to grab it, only to have his hand pulled away by Will.

"It looks dangerous and it's still steaming. Don't touch it."

Percy glared at his hand and Nico quickly pulled it away from Will's grasps. Will quietly apologized.

Nico bent over and grabbed the sword, which was surprisingly cool to the touch, "I think it's from my father."

He inspected the handle, which was covered in little skulls. Of course. His father sure had strange ways of sending him gifts. The sword, despite its size was not nearly as heavy as it looked. The blade strangely didn't catch any light as he turned it over, instead it almost seemed to absorb all light around it. He liked it.

He swung the sword around a few times, causing Percy and Will to step further back. The weight and feel of the sword worked perfectly together.

"I still think it looks dangerous," Will mumbled under his breath.

Percy sighed, "Well I guess everything from the Underworld is sort of dangerous. We probably shouldn't keep them waiting too long. I'd like to be at Atlantis before sundown."

On the ship, Leo was explaining to Jason more on how to control the Argo and Annabeth was looking through the scrolls while taking notes on her laptop. Besides her and the scrolls sat a large box of coffee. Where on earth did they get coffee when there was a drought? He was sure coffee beans came from South America and if transportation wasn't great, how did they manage to bring them all the way to New York of all places.

"So where's Will staying?" Percy asked, making an attempt to grab one of the scrolls, only to be shooed away by Annabeth.

"He can just share Nico's room," Annabeth offered, barely paying then any mind.

"Sure!"

"No!" Even Annabeth turned to look at Percy. Percy began to look a little nervous, it was almost sort of cute, "Nico just met him. I just don't want him to be uncomfortable. Will can share my room, with me."

Leo scoffed a bit, "Your room is the most disgusting mess imaginable."

"I can clean it."

Annabeth sighed and went back to her scroll, "Go do whatever you want. Just remember, it's going to be a rocky ride tonight. Jason's going to be helping us but even with him, I doubt it's going to go perfectly."

Leo sighed, "Having someone help me fly is almost shameful."

Nico felt someone grab his shoulder and turned back to look at Percy, who was slowly guiding him back to his room. Once in the room, Percy closed the door behind him.

"I feel like he's up to something," Percy whispered.

Nico tried his best to keep a straight face, "Who?"

"Will! He's always been a little sketchy. Apollo kids are dangerous."

"Aren't they supposed to be good doctors."

Percy furrowed his brows, "Doctors can be iffy people too. I'm just getting a bad vibe from him, alright. Keep your guard up around him, okay, Nico?"

Nico sat down on his bed, "Will seems like a nice guy."

"A nice guy with motives."

Nico suppressed a smile, "Aren't there other things to be worried about?"

Percy stepped closer, crouching down a bit as if that helped his voice become quieter, "Maybe. But not so many things to worry about on this ship but him."

"Okay Percy."

Percy smiled before grabbing Nico's head and shoving it into his chest, a strange little hug, "Thank you, Nico."

The feeling of his face warming up was becoming more familiar than ever.

"I hope this quest isn't too hard on you. I heard from Annabeth that Bianca is really enjoying her time in Westover. I really want you to like it here with us. We're a team and I want you to know that you're essential to this team. Do you like it here?"

"Yeah I do," his voice muffled by Percy's shirt. He didn't want Percy to let go.

"That makes me really happy."

Percy pulled back for a second to smile down at him with that stupid smile of his and sea green eyes. Nico quickly decided that attractive people annoyed him.


End file.
